The Ones: Wayne Valentine’s “idkboutthat[90]”

With artists releasing songs at a fast and furious pace it’s difficult for the average hip-hop head to keep track of it all—no matter how tapped in they are. That’s why we created The Ones, a daily post to highlight the song you need to hear curated by the Levels team. We sort through all the new songs—across all the platforms and subgenres—so you don't have to. Thank us later.

Wayne Valentine - “idkboutthat[90]”

The success of producers like Knxwledge, Swarvy, and Ohbliv has helped the niche lo-fi producer scene become the thriving, highly collaborative community it is today. The subgenre’s dusty loops, sample flips, and dirty drums have influenced some of 2018’s highest profile rap albums such as Earl Sweatshirt’s Some Rap Songs and Smino’s Noir. Like many of his contemporaries, Kansas-based producer Wayne Valentine wears the inspiration of heavyweights like J Dilla and Madlib on his sleeve as he presents fresh takes on old tracks he flips and edits.

On “idkboutthat[90],” the producer comically flips Bow Wow’s “Don’t Know About That” into a crisp knocker. The original Bow Wow song is a generic mid 2000s Southern hip-hop track, but the swelling strings, powerful vocal sample, and jazzy groove give this Shad Moss throwback new life. It’s the exact type of inventive flip that is bringing more attention to the lo-fi scene as the formerly tight-knit group of producers are on the verge of changing the mainstream like Flying Lotus did before them.